Review: Swapped by a Kiss by Luisa Plaja

Swapped by a Kiss by Luisa Plaja (review copy) - WARNING! I cannot review this book without spoiling the first book, Split by a Kiss. Do not read any further if you plan on reading Split and don't want to be spoiled.

I wish I wasn't myself anymore.
I wish I was her.
I wish I was Jo.

Rachel hates her life. Wen her on/off boyfriend David goes to a music festival, she decides to surprise him - but she gets a shock of her own. Not only does she find David kissing someone else, but it's their friend Jo! Super-lovely, super-loved, all-round perfect Jo.
Rachel runs away, wishing she could leave her life behind - and she suddenly finds herself in Jo's body! Can she keep this swap a secret? Can she unravel what's really going on? Can she get to grips with Jo's out-of-control curly hair?
And if she discovers that being in someone else's shoes isn't all it's cracked up to be, can she ever be herself again? From the back of the book.

As most of you will know, I am a huge Luisa Plaja fan. I loved Split by a Kiss, the first in this duology, so when I was offered the chance to review Swapped by a Kiss, I jumped at the chance! And just as I expected, I loved it!

Swapped starts a few months after Split ends. Jo is with Albie, Tori is friends with Jo now instead of the popular gang, and most importantly Rachel is with David. Ish. With her fiery personality and raging jealousy, arguments are common between the two of them. One such fight happens before David goes to England for a festival, but when Rachel decides to surprise him by turning up at the festival, he finds him kissing Jo.

Jo splitting in two in the first book was just awesome. Following her down two different paths at the same time was awesome, but watching Rachel in Jo's body, trying to be British and nice was just genius! I didn't really relate all that much to Rachel, as she's hugely into graphic novels, comics and superheroes - not really my bag. But I sympathised with her and her situation. Not only are the guys in Rachel-Rachel's and Rachel-Jo's life "dastards", but there are more serious issues running through the book; identity and self-image.

Before the swap took place, it was heart breaking to read Rachel's thoughts about herself, and about Jo. What it says above in the blurb, "Super-lovely, super-loved, all-round perfect Jo," is exactly what Rachel thinks of her, where as she describes herself as "oversized". She believes she's a nightmare, and if she was Jo, she wouldn't have to deal with the crap going on in her life, and everyone would like her better - especially David. It's just awful having to read about Rachel's low self-esteem and her other issues, and not being able to give her a hug. It's really sad!

However, this is not to say Swapped is hard, emotional reading. Swapped is quite a light, humourous read, and pretty fun. The scrapes Rachel gets herself into in Jo's body are just hilarious. Attempting to use British words, and make up fake swear words - because that's what British people do - is cause for much laughter. Jo's diary entries of conversations she has with Rachel's mum, while pretending to be angry, unkind, and American are also hilarious.

All in all, a great quick, light, fun read that touches on some serious subjects. This would make such a good beach read! I loved it, and I so hope there is going to be another story about these characters. Maybe involving one of the boys this time!

Thanks to Random House for sending me a review copy.

Published: 29th April 2010
Publisher: Random House Children's Books
Buy on Amazon UK
Buy on The Book Depository - free international shipping
Luisa Plaja's Website

My review of Split by a Kiss

Other Reviews:
So Many Books, So Little Time
The Book Sloth
I Was a Teenage Book Geek

Continue reading Review: Swapped by a Kiss by Luisa Plaja

News: Swapped by a Kiss by Luisa Plaja is Released Today!

You all probably know by now of my huge love for Luisa Plaja and her amazing novels! Well, I have some great news! Swapped by a Kiss, Luisa's third novel, the sequel to Split by a Kiss, is released today!

Swapped by a Kiss by Luisa Plaja

Rachel hates her life and everyone in it - she even has suspicions that her on/off boyfriend David might not be entirely trustworthy. However, when David invites her to a music festival in England featuring their friend's band, she jumps at the chance for an overseas adventure. Hoping to surprise David, Rachel arrives at the festival early, where she runs into a nasty surprise of her own - she sees David kissing their friend Jo. Distraught, Rachel runs off, wishing she could leave her life behind...the next thing she knows, she's back with David. But not as herself...She's now in Jo's body! Can she keep the swap a secret from David until she can work out exactly what's going on and get her revenge? Over the course of a very weird weekend, Rachel puts herself in someone else's shoes and finds that her own maybe weren't as uncomfortable as she'd always thought. But can she ever be herself again? From Amazon UK

I was lucky enough to have won a contest on The Sweet Bonjour for any book by Luisa, and so I received a signed copy of Swapped today! I am so excited to read it! Make sure you get your hands on a copy! All links go to The Book Depository, which has free world wide shipping.

Buy Swapped by a Kiss by Luisa Plaja
Buy any book by Luisa Plaja

Read my review of the first book in the series, Split by a Kiss.
Read my interview with Luisa about Swapped by a Kiss.

Continue reading News: Swapped by a Kiss by Luisa Plaja is Released Today!

Interview with Luisa Plaja

I'm very fortunate to be able to present to you today an interview with wonder YA author, Luisa Plaja! Luisa, who is the author of Split by a Kiss, Extreme Kissing, and Swapped by a Kiss which will be released 29th April, and the editor of the awesome YA book review blog, Chicklish, answered some questions on Swapped by a Kiss to give us a bit of a taster of what's to come.

Thanks for taking the time out of your busy schedule to answer some questions about your next release, Luisa! Swapped by a Kiss is the sequel to Split by a Kiss. Can you please tell us a little about it?

Thanks for having me here! OK... In Swapped by a Kiss, the focus is on Rachel, Jo's friend from Split by a Kiss. She leaves her Boston home to surprise her on/off boyfriend David at a British music festival - but she's the one who gets the surprise when she sees him kissing Jo in a dance tent. Rachel has always been jealous of Jo, and she runs away, wishing she could actually be Jo instead of being herself. And then she finds herself back in the dance tent with David – and she’s in Jo's body.

In Split, Jo becomes two versions of herself, each making opposite choices when Jo has to make a decision, and in Swapped, Rachel and Jo swap bodies. How did these storylines come to you?

I didn't set out to write the 'split' in Split by a Kiss - it happened as I was writing. I'd started a book about British/American culture shock, but when I reached the 'kissing a hot boy in a cupboard' scene, I realised Jo's recent experiences could have changed her. I thought she might react in two completely different ways depending on how much she'd decided to adapt to her new friends, and I wanted to try out both reactions, which meant sending my character in two different directions. Then I followed her down each path.

As I wrote Split by a Kiss, I knew there was a lot more I wanted to say about the prickly, outspoken, misunderstood character of Rachel. Her story kept brewing after I completed the book, and I realised that a body swap between Rachel and Jo would be the perfect way to explore Rachel's issues. It fits perfectly because Rachel isn't comfortable in her own skin, because she’s not-so-secretly jealous of Jo - and also because Jo mentions in Split by a Kiss that one of her favourite films is Freaky Friday!

Split by a Kiss has been compared to the movie Sliding Doors by many people, including myself. From reading the summary of Swapped by a Kiss, it’s easy to guess people may make comparisons between the books and the many versions of the movie Freaky Friday. Does it bother you that people do, and may, make these comparisons? Were you inspired by either movie when writing the books?

It doesn't bother me at all - I'd make the comparisons myself! Anyway, no story exists in a vacuum - every single one is influenced by other stories. I think I'm possibly more inspired by books than films, though, in general. Freaky Friday was definitely part of the inspiration for Swapped by a Kiss, but I tend to think of the original Mary Rodgers novel rather than the three movie versions. I read that book hundreds of times as a child! I have seen Sliding Doors, but again I think books were a bigger inspiration for Split by a Kiss - for example, when I started writing it, I'd recently read Queen Bees and Wannabes by Rosalind Wiseman, the non-fiction book that later inspired the movie Mean Girls. Another book that has always stuck in my mind is one I read when I was a teenager myself: Her Living Image by Jane Rogers. In that book, aimed at adults, a character splits into parallel lives after being hit by a car - or not. There's a crucial difference between the premise of this story (and that of Sliding Doors) and Split by a Kiss, though - Jo's split doesn't happen by chance. She makes a deliberate decision that takes her down two different paths. Where the Sliding Doors story might be shaped by fate and destiny, Jo's story is about the intentional steps she takes due to her wavering sense of identity and self-worth. (Oh, and it’s a comedy!)

With Split, you fell back on your own experiences when writing about Jo, a British girl, living in America. In Swapped, Rachel, one of Jo’s American friends, is narrating the story of her visiting Jo in England. Was it harder for you write about Rachel’s experiences of England than Jo’s experiences of America?

I don't think I had any trouble seeing England as an outsider - I've had a mixed upbringing and England wasn't the first country I lived in. I know a bit about culture shock! I did struggle with Rachel's vocabulary at first, though. In an effort to get it exactly right, I started off being very careful not to let Rachel use a single British idiom. At one stage, I was trawling the internet for every other phrase Rachel used, making sure it had been uttered by someone in the USA at some point. It was taking ages! Then I remembered that Rachel was heavily influenced by being close friends with half-British David for years - in fact, she'd always deliberately copied his language. After that, I relaxed and Rachel's voice came naturally to me.
Do you have any plans to continue writing with these characters? Can we look forward to a third book? And have you decided on a name for this duology, or perhaps – at least – trilogy?

I call them "the kiss books" to myself - but that includes Extreme Kissing which, as you know, is a standalone. I don't know yet whether there will be more books about the Split by a Kiss characters. I always have lots of juicy ideas keeping me up at night, though!

What can we look forward to reading by you next?

I should have another book out in 2011. It should feature a teenage heroine, comedy, romance and possibly some magic. That's all I can say at the moment!

Thank you very much for these really great questions, Jo! It's been a pleasure to be interviewed by you.

Thank you for letting me interview you! So what are you waiting for, pre-order Swapped by a Kiss from The Book Depository now! If you've not yet read the first in the series, you can also buy Split by a Kiss, as well as Luisa's stand alone novel, Extreme Kissing, from The Book Depository, both of which I highly recommend.

Continue reading Interview with Luisa Plaja

News: Swapped by a Kiss by Luisa Plaja Cover Unveiled!

Let me tell you something about me; when I was a teenager, I was a big fan of the colour purple. Every shade of purple. Pretty much every item (bar jeans) in my wardrobe was some shade of purple - mainly lilac. I know, a little over the topped, but I just loved. Now an adult, my fave colours are black, purple, and silver. There's a lot more colour to my wardrobe now though.

Back to the news. Luisa Plaja's Swapped by a Kiss cover:

Blurb:
I wish I wasn't myself anymore.

I wish I was her.

I wish I was Jo.

Rachel hates her life.

When her on/off boyfriend David goes to a music festival in England, she jumps on a plane to surprise him - but she gets a shock of her own. Not only does she find David kissing someone else, but it's their friend Jo! Super-lovely, super-loved, all-round-perfect Jo.

Rachel runs away, wishing she could leave her life behind - and she suddenly finds herself in Jo's body! Can she keep this swap a secret? Can she unravel what's really going on? Can she get to grips with Jo's out-of-control curly hair?

And if she discovers that being in someone else's shoes isn't all it's cracked up to be, can she ever be herself again? From Luisa's website.

You know, I get why Rachel wants to be me, I am pretty awesome! I kid, I kid!

BUT LOOK AT THAT COVER! I believe I see PURPLE... and there's some black and silver (could be grey, but lets not get specific) there too! This make's Jo a happy girl! This Jo, me, not character Jo. And it's so pretty! And, well, it's a novel by Luisa Plaja, which means it's automatically going to be amazing, and it's a sequel to Split by a Kiss, so it's going to be amazing twice! I'm sorry, all this purple is bringing out the little girl in me.

I say that cover should be a t-shirt!

For those who'd like to see the cover the other way round, to see Rachel and Jo swapped round (see what I did there?), here you go:





And you know, I think this cover may catch the eyes of the target audience a little more than the previous two covers - it fits in with the covers of Luisa's other novels (see below), but I think it also looks a little maturer. This is all good! I loves it! I can't wait to read it, and I can't get over how pretty it is!



Click images for a larger view.

I can't wait for this book!

P.S. I've not seen this cover for Extreme Kissing before, but I like it too!



Click for a larger view.

ETA: I've been told that the above cover was actually the original cover for Extreme Kissing, before they changed it to the one we all know.

My reviews:
Split by a Kiss
Extreme Kissing

Luisa Plaja's Website

Continue reading News: Swapped by a Kiss by Luisa Plaja Cover Unveiled!